Keeping a Lie a Secret
by SonicHedgehog7
Summary: The Master Emerald is one of the most powerful gems in Mobius, but when Eggman forces Sonic to steal it from Knuckles after his capture, he needs to lie to the echidna and keep it a secret at the same time while getting it back. Will Sonic spill out his guilty secret and if he does, will Knuckles forgive him?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

It was a beautiful day on Angel Island, the sky was blue with no sign of clouds and everything around the island was just peaceful. At the Master Emerald shrine was Knuckles the Echidna, the very last of his species after what happened four thousand years ago. This big, large emerald was created by the gods because back in the ages, the Chaos Emeralds were used for evil so they created the Master Emerald to generate the power of the emeralds and to have greater power to use it for stop them by whoever harnesses its powers.

Knuckles didn't know a lot about what happened in the past and he tried so hard to uncover everything about it but it was still a long way ahead to understand everything. Before then when he was finding the Master Emerald shards, he got various flashbacks from the past about Chaos and the Master Emerald.

Nothing made quite sense when that happened. It felt like he was passed out and dreaming all of this, but it felt real. It felt like he was there.

Also at some point of all of it, he saw a young female echidna who was trying to prevent what she knew was going to happen, and she was right. Her father was named Chief Pachacamac, the leader of the Echidna Tribe and his daughter was named Tikal. She could control the Master Emerald's power and she was trying her best to tell her father not to use its power for evil, but they never listened.

That night of the attack, the chief and the tribe disappeared when Chaos was out of the Master Emerald, never to been seen again. Because of all of that, Tikal decided to seal herself inside the emerald with him. That is how Angel Island floats in the sky.

Knuckles never understood how the island would float, but it was his destiny to guard the Master Emerald for the sake of the world and from falling into the wrong hands, like Eggman for instance. Sometimes he was bored on the island, and it was also a very lazy life, but he got used to it. Whenever he got visits from Sonic and Tails, it was either to ask for their help to stop Eggman's latest schemes or to just visit him. He didn't mind their company but he also loved the peace and quiet on the island.

He was very tough whenever the weather changed, like when it rained and the lightning crashes in the sky, Knuckles was always on that shrine, keeping it safe. Knuckles had to guard this emerald until he dies, which would be a very long time, if nothing serious happens. This is why Sonic was always fighting Eggman every week, to prevent the world to become his own empire, Eggmanland. Seriously, that name was so original and sounds stupid.

He didn't mind Sonic when he was being heroic, but sometimes he just gets a little carried away, which would eventually annoy the echidna, especially with his smart aleck comments.

What he also enjoyed on the island is the scenery. It was always so beautiful to see things from an aerial view. Everything looked like they've been shrunken by one of Eggman's weapons and the people looked like ants.

Most of the time Knuckles would always sit on the shrine and relax and probably sleep because of how much time he's always guarding the Master Emerald but right now he was kicking back and relaxing. He hoped nothing would ruin all of this.

**XxXxXxX**

Somewhere in the Green Hill Zone, our favourite, heroic hero, Sonic the Hedgehog was on his normal daily runs. This is what he mostly does whenever he was bored, or to explore unfamiliar places. He also does this when Eggman wasn't unleashing his latest schemes and for Sonic to foil them once again.

One time Eggman actually helped Sonic and his friends to save the earth from Professor Gerald Robotnik, Eggman's grandfather who wanted revenge to the humans and wanted to suffer what he went through when one of the soldiers killed his beloved granddaughter, Maria. He created the ultimate weapon, Shadow the Hedgehog to carry out his plans when the time was right, but Amy ended up persuading him by trying to tell him that the humans were good. He ended up getting a flashback from Maria just before she ejected the capsule with him inside to tell him to help everyone and make them happy. Shadow helped out Sonic at the final battle and sacrificed himself for the earth.

But soon after the earth was saved, everything went back to normal and I mean literally, everything was just how it was before this whole Space Colony ARK event happened.

Sonic never forgot that event at all and never wished it to go away. He actually didn't want any of his memories of becoming a hero from the very start through to right now to ever go away. They were happy and magical moments for him. Sonic enjoyed his heroism to the world and was also the fastest thing alive. Nobody can take that from him.

Sometimes these were why he went on daily runs, to picture everything from defeating Eggman for the very first time, meeting Tails which was one of the most memorable moments not only for him but for Tails as well, then Knuckles when he was on Eggman's side until he got tricked, rescuing Amy from Metal Sonic, he really needed to know why Amy can't defend herself these days but probably because she always wanted him to rescue her and he really gets annoyed by it. Defeating Perfect Chaos, meeting Shadow and Rouge plus saving the earth, Blaze when Eggman and Eggman Nega teamed up to steal the Chaos Emeralds and the Sol Emeralds which were from Blaze's dimension. He even remembered some moments with Silver when that future, telekinetic hedgehog tried to kill him when mistaken to be the Iblis Trigger but eventually helped each other out later on.

He never forgot Cream, Cheese, Vanilla, the Chaotix, the Babylon Rouges, some friends from the storybook series and other adventures, even Big the Cat on the Egg Carrier. He made a lot of friends along the way.

Suddenly, the sky got dark. Sonic knew it wasn't going to rain because he saw the forecast on the news before he left his house. This didn't seem right but Sonic had a good feeling why. He looked up to see Eggman's Airship about to land. Sonic took a few steps backwards so he wouldn't get hit by it.

That airship didn't take long to land at all, which then Eggman walked out and moved towards the hedgehog. Sonic was ready for anything because the only thing Eggman wasn't a genius was fighting without his big robots or inventions.

"Well, well, if it isn't my favourite rodent." Eggman greeted with the name calling.

"What are you doing here Egghead? Are you unleashing some kind of lame scheme again?"

"My schemes aren't lame!" Eggman shouted out.

"Then why do I foil them all the time?" Sonic then asked him while smirking that he won.

"True but this time it shall be me who will finally win!"

"And how are you going to do that? Enlighten me with your new lame plan."

Eggman stared at Sonic angrily as he was getting annoyed with his smart aleck attitude.

"Joke time is over hedgehog, now it's fighting time, and just to make this interesting, I'm going to fight you myself."

'_He's joking right?'_

By himself? Well that's a first. Eggman wouldn't last a fight with the blue, supersonic hedgehog without any inventions.

"Hahaha, are you serious? Where's your big flying car that's wide enough to support your weight?" Sonic mocked while laughing so hard. He didn't know this was going to happen in his life.

"Well it's… HEY! No one has ever made fun of my weight!"

"Well now I'm your first."

Eggman was furious now. He now wanted payback for what he just heard from his nemesis' smart mouth. Really, nobody had ever made fun of his weight. Ever! All they did was the name calling but that was it, even if some of the same calling was Egghead, Egg face, Egg belly and so on.

"That's it rodent! Let's fight right now and avoid all of this!" Eggman shouted out.

Somehow, that just frightened the blue hedgehog.

"Alright then, bring it on!" Sonic accepted.

"But let's make this fair shall we. I'm not using any of my inventions remember? So now, what aren't you using?"

'_So a fair fight eh? Well I might as well do it just to make this interesting for him.'_

"Well let's see… I won't use my Sonic Boost, Homing Attack, my speed, Sonic Wind-

"Will you just get to the point?!" Eggman interrupted as he didn't want to hear Sonic name every single technique he well know knew.

"Very well, I won't use any of my techniques. Just a good, old fashion fight, and just to make this fairer, I'll go easy on you."

The hedgehog then started the fight with his right fist aiming for his enemy but was somehow stopped. He looked and saw that Eggman grabbed a hold of his fist. Sonic gasped because he didn't expect something like that to happen, even from Eggman.

"Okay then, you can go easy on me, but I won't."

Eggman then threw his fist at Sonic's left cheek and somehow got a direct hit. Sonic fell backwards a tiny bit was able to straighten his balance, but it did hurt. Maybe it was now time to act serious and not go that easy on Eggman. He started pulling his fists at him and Eggman did the same. It was going on for several moments with the same tactic. Nothing was changing yet.

While they were doing so, Sonic started going through his thoughts with a lot of questions. How is Eggman doing so well right at this minute? He hasn't seen him this good, except when they're at the Olympics.

About 5 minutes later, both Eggman and Sonic were getting exhausted. They both had a few scratches on them but nothing else. Sonic never felt this sore and exhausted in his life when it came to fighting against Eggman. He went for a charge towards Eggman but the scientist dodged and knocked Sonic to the nearby tree. The hedgehog hit the tree heard with his head and now his vision was going blurry. Then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Sonic woke up with blurry eyes and a massive headache. He wasn't fully focused on his surroundings just yet after losing a fight between his arch-enemy who he didn't even know he could fight like that. Eggman was always the guy to build robots that work for him or to be used in a battle. After a few seconds, Sonic was able to see everything. He looked around and saw that he was inside a jail cell which was inside an airship. Sonic realized that he was kidnapped by Eggman. He also found out that there were handcuffs on his wrists. They weren't circulating his wrists which didn't bother him at all, but he still wanted them off.

Sonic never lost to a fight with Eggman, even without his machines. He wanted to know how he was able to fight that good. He actually went easy on him but decided to get serious and yet he still got beaten.

Right now all he needed to find out is how to get out of there and also know why Eggman kidnapped him in the first place. He knew Eggman was planning some diabolical plan to conquer the world yet again, but he then thought that he was there to stay out of his way. Typical Eggman.

Speaking of Eggman, Sonic then saw him walking towards the front of the cell. The hedgehog hoped that he wasn't going to mock him about that whole fight that was who knows how long it was because he didn't even know what time it was at this minute. Sonic then saw his arch-enemy unlocking the cell and he didn't know why and what he was up to.

"About time you woke up."

"How long was I knocked out?" Sonic asked.

"Hmm… about 2 hours." Eggman estimated.

That was quite a while. Getting knocked out by Eggman was nothing, but when it came to Knuckles, Shadow and even Amy with her Piko-Piko Hammer, you'll be unconscious for a long time. Then Sonic had another question that he wanted to really know.

"I also want to know how on earth you were able to fight like that."

"Hahaha, that's a question that will never be answered."

So that question backfired.

"What are you planning on doing to me Eggman?" Sonic then asked to find out what his next plan was.

"Well since you asked, nothing really. But there is something that I want you to do."

There was something that Sonic regretted and hoped it wasn't something bad to Eggman's plan.

"What is it?" Sonic asked in an annoyed tone.

"Oh it's quite simple. All you need to do is bring me the Master Emerald."

"WHAT?! I can't do that because Knuckles would kill me if I do so! Plus I don't want to do it anyway."

Eggman then smirked.

"Oh but you will my dear Sonic. I have a plan that's going to make you completely off the hook, and happy to me at the same time. It's full-proof!"

"Really." Sonic sarcastically said.

The scientist heard his sarcastic remark and he started feeling the need to threaten Sonic just to get his own way. He then grabbed hold of Sonic's left arm and pulled him off the ground with ease. The hedgehog didn't suspect that one coming and he was now starting to feel the pain in his arm from the tight and iron grip hand owned by Eggman, squeezing it with all his might.

"You listen to me and listen well Sonic. If you don't do as I say then I'll make you watch me blow up Angel Island right here and right now!" Eggman yelled in that threatening tone.

That threat just popped right into Sonic's head. Eggman would never do that and Sonic knows that too well. Eggman never had the desire to threaten anyone just to get his own way, not even to his nemesis that was right in front of him.

"You wouldn't."

Sonic then looked at Eggman's blue glasses that were there to keep his eyes in hiding. Even if he couldn't see them, the blue hedgehog knew he was serious about it with that tone he just got.

"Oh I would, hedgehog. I've already planted explosives underneath the island and they're all ready to go. Now are you going to listen to me or am I going to push the button?" He threatened again.

Seeing as this was the only way to reason with Sonic and get what he wanted, because every time he tried to get his own way he was stopped, this was going all too well now. Eggman was now thinking to himself that he was finally going to win if he can crack Sonic for a simple 'yes or no' answer.

Sonic couldn't toss up with this at all. He already knew what was going to happen if Eggman pressed the button. Not only Eggman will lose the chance to get the Master Emerald because it will shatter into millions of pieces, but Sonic would lose his best friend living on the island right at this minute. He couldn't let that happen and he couldn't give in to Eggman for his so called 'full-proof' yet stupid plan.

"You do realise that if you blow up Angel Island, you'll shatter the Master Emerald and kill Knuckles at the same time." Sonic pointed out.

"Oh I would make a new plan with something more valuable, but killing Knuckles? What a dream come true! I had always tried killing you, even though it wasn't my top priority, but getting rid of that knucklehead was also part of my list of achievements, that way I would get to the Master Emerald with ease. Even when he's gullible, he always changes his mind at the end and foils everything. Anyway, back to my plan. What's your decision Sonic?"

Sonic knew that was a good explanation from Eggman. He was always so organised because of that genius I.Q. Still everything turned out as a disaster in the end because of the heroic hero. Right now his only thoughts were on the tough decision he needed to make. Steal the Master Emerald or watch Angel Island explode with his best friend in tow. Sonic couldn't toss up a single answer with this. Even a coin toss would be useless. He thought of making a great escape to avoid all this but with the iron grip by Eggman, he couldn't get out of it at all.

Sonic then came to a decision that he was going to regret and haunt him for the rest of his life. It was the only way though.

"I'll do it." Sonic finally said in defeat.

"Excellent choice my dear Sonic, and not the wrong one either. We are minutes from Angel Island and I shall explain what you need to do when we land. Follow me and I'll remove the handcuffs."

Eggman released his hand from Sonic's left arm and headed to the entrance of his airship. The blue hedgehog slowly followed and going through his thoughts on the decision he just made, betraying his best friend.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

It was four minutes later after Eggman and Sonic had that little discussion, which finally the airship landed on the floating island. Angel Island was a beautiful island, and Knuckles made sure of it, seeing as he the Guardian of the Master Emerald, including his home. Everything was always ancient around the island, with trees and really old stones and ruins reflecting with them.

One of the airship's doors then opened which revealed the arch-enemy and nemesis standing inside, waiting for the door to be completely opened.

"Ah, Angel Island. The only floating island in Mobius and a natural history from four thousand years ago, plus the home of the only echidna left in existence." Eggman announced as they saw the island's landscape.

Sonic ignored that and was focusing on what would happen when he does this. He already knew if the Master Emerald shattered into millions of pieces, the island will fall into the sea. Will it do the same thing if it's stolen? There was a possibility that it will do so because of the massive amount of chaos energy the green rock contains to keep the island floating in the sky.

"Anyway, here's the plan. While you go and 'collect' the Master Emerald, I'll be distracting the knucklehead so he doesn't get suspicious. Got that hedgehog?" Eggman explained.

"Hold on why am I getting the Master Emerald? I can't even pick it up!" Sonic raised his voice.

"Oh you'll manage it."

Eggman then gave Sonic a wrist communicator that almost looked identical to the one Tails made, but with a different style and probably works a lot better than before, mostly because Eggman was smarter than Tails with these things. He strapped it onto the hedgehog's left, skinny wrist.

"What's this for?" The hedgehog asked while looking at the wrist communicator.

"What do you mean what's this for? It's to signal you when everything's set, you idiot!"

"Well sorry." Sonic apologized sarcastically.

Eggman was getting really annoyed with Sonic's sarcastic attitude but that was part of the hedgehog's nature to stir. There was no way he was going to get Sonic to stop. Besides, he had something more important on his mind to worry about that.

"Just head over to the shrine and stay hidden until I signal you. Oh and just to make sure you don't disobey and alert Knuckles, I'll have one of my robots following you."

Sonic hated that part of the plan.

"You've got to be kidding! You're distracting Knuckles and I have to carry a big green rock that's twice as heavy as me with a robot following my every move? What kind of plan is this?!" He argued.

"A plan that's pure genius!"

Sonic groaned and rolled his eyes from hearing that. Just after doing that, he heard mechanical noises coming from behind him. Sonic recognised the shadow from the robotic figure and he didn't believe who he saw. It was his own robotic copycat, Metal Sonic.

"Metal Sonic? He's the one that's going to be following my every move? Are you kidding?!" Sonic argued once again.

Having a robot following him was one thing, but Metal Sonic? Things just got more annoying for the blue hedgehog.

"No I'm not kidding. Metal Sonic's the only robot that I can trust. My other robots are complete idiots."

"Alright then, let me give you the list of names of those robots. There's Scratch, Grounder, Coconuts, Decoe, Bocoe, Bokkun, Orbot, Cubot-

"Oh will you shut up! I get it!" Eggman interrupted by shouting at him.

Sonic actually had a good point with all of the robots he had made, yet they were useless. He wondered why he created them in the first place. When Sonic started naming them he just wanted him to stop and not hear any of his earlier failures.

"Just go!" The scientist then ordered before Sonic had the chance to mock him again.

The hedgehog decided not to annoy his enemy anymore even if it was funny. With Metal Sonic watching his every move, maybe it wasn't the best idea. Sonic would knock his robotic self with ease but who knows what kind of upgrades Eggman had done with him.

Sonic then headed over to the Master Emerald Shrine with Metal Sonic following closely behind him. When Eggman saw the hedgehogs completely out of sight, he grabbed his Eggmobile and started looking for the red echidna.

**XxXxXxX**

Over at the Master Emerald Shrine, Knuckles was still sitting on the shrine steps guarding the big shiny rock as he had a duty to fulfil, plus he had nothing else to do. He'd usually explore the island whenever he needed a break from the Master Emerald duty and when he was bored. Nothing new happens because he knew everything about Angel Island off by heart, plus he'd always head that way for daily walks or something.

Right now he was thinking that something bad was going to happen. He remembered the exact day when he first met Eggman and thought that Sonic and Tails were the enemies, leading him to eliminate them and steal the Chaos Emeralds, until he was tricked by Eggman who was stealing the Master Emerald.

Knuckles was on the right track because he then heard an explosion coming from the North from the Shrine. Leaving the Master Emerald unguarded, he ran over towards the source of the explosion.

Somewhere in the bushes near the Shrine, Sonic was completely out of sight watching Knuckles leave the big green rock on its own, leaving the villains and thieves to steal the powerful gem. The robotic hedgehog was still behind him and it was really annoying the blue hedgehog.

All he needed to do right now is wait for Eggman to call him from the wrist communicator to alert and find out if Knuckles is away from the Master Emerald, which shouldn't take too long because Sonic hated waiting. The call then transmitted.

"_Is Knuckles away from his post?"_ Eggman asked from his side of the wrist communicator that was part of his plan.

"Yeah."

"_Good, now go bring me the Master Emerald and take it back to the airship."_

"Wait, hold on! Is faker here going to help me or is he just going to keep pointing that gun at me the rest of the way?" Sonic then asked.

Metal Sonic was actually holding one of those laser guns at Sonic just to make sure he didn't do anything that can cause him to warn Knuckles or get the Master Emerald away from Eggman.

"_Just go!"_

Then the call ended.

Sonic groaned loudly and couldn't wait until this was over. He then headed up to the shrine in a normal pace as he didn't need to rush so much. Walking up the stairs and finally gets to the top to see the glow from the Master Emerald. Now all he needed to do is pick it up somehow.

"Man I bet this weighs more than Eggman."

Starting from the bottom, Sonic tried lifting it up. It didn't move an inch. He tried yet again and using all of his strength, he managed to lift the green rock from the ground. The Master Emerald was very heavy and Sonic wondered how Knuckles could easily carry such a large gem.

Sonic now needed a strategy to get the big emerald back to the airship because the stupid, robot double ganger with him wouldn't help but threaten him with an object that was actually used to kill anyone.

He pulled the Master Emerald into a comfortable position and slowly headed down the steps and started his long, yet slow journey with Metal Sonic back to the airship.

**XxXxXxX**

Knuckles continued searching for the particular place on the island that had the explosion just moments ago. He couldn't tell what caused the explosion or what kind of object entered Angel Island but he could tell who it was from.

When he finally got there, he didn't like who he saw and the person who caused the explosion, which surprisingly didn't do too much damage to the environment and landscape, was Eggman in his flying Eggmobile.

"What are you doing here Eggman?" Knuckles asked in an annoying tone.

"Oh so no hello my dear echidna? That's not very nice."

"Well I'm never nice to you so there you go."

Knuckles was always having the grudge on Eggman ever since he got tricked so nothing has changed between them.

"Anyway back to my question, what are you doing here?" Knuckles repeated.

"Oh me? I'm just on a stroll in the Eggmobile, looking around the place, seeing my enemies." Eggman explained.

"I don't really trust you there. What are you up to?"

"Oh you're being naïve knucklehead. I'm not up to anything."

"Sure you aren't." Knuckles replied sarcastically.

Eggman then thought of how his nemesis was doing since it was nearly seven minutes ago they departed from each other and the two right in front of each other weren't talking for more than three minutes.

"Well won't you look at the time, I must be heading off. See you later knucklehead."

The Eggmobile then headed off leaving Knuckles thinking over what just happened. Something was up indeed. He just couldn't quite put his finger on it. Heading back to the altar, he kept thinking through his thoughts.

**XxXxXxX**

It didn't take long for Eggman to arrive back to his airship after leaving Knuckles to complete his part of the plan to allow Sonic to collect the Master Emerald. Speaking of Sonic, the scientist couldn't see him anywhere just yet. Contacting him from the wrist communicator would not be a suitable idea either because of how valuable the green emerald is and breaking it would make Eggman really mad.

He then spotted something green metres out in front of him, which meant that the hedgehogs have succeeded in gathering the precious gem. Sonic then arrived with Metal Sonic yet still behind him.

"What took you so long?" Eggman asked as he was currently waiting for them to arrive.

"What took me so long? I had to carry a big green rock back here by myself that's three times as heavy as me!" Sonic shouted out in frustration.

"Metal Sonic take the Master Emerald into the airship." Eggman ordered.

The robotic hedgehog did just that and carried the Master Emerald with ease when taking it away from Sonic, who had his mouth open just seeing what was happening.

"You could've let him carry that emerald back here." Sonic then said.

"Well at least you've done what I asked for."

Sonic then just remembered something.

"How was Knuckles?"

"Oh him? Still easy to trick now a days." Eggman answered.

"Then what am I supposed to do if Knuckles starts questioning me about the Master Emerald being stolen and bringing you up?"

"You lie like you always do." The scientist answered again but straightforward this time.

"But lying to Knuckles isn't like lying to Tails and everybody else. He's just as stubborn as Shadow. How am I supposed to keep what happened just now a lie?"

"Well it's what's called keeping a lie a secret. You're lying and keeping that to yourself. Now get back into the airship before Knuckles finds out about what happened and runs after us."

"Wait us?" Sonic asked in confusion. It was mainly Eggman's plan with Sonic along with force.

"Mainly you."

"Shut up!"

Eggman ignored that and headed inside the airship with Sonic now following him. Right now he was blaming himself about what he did and now he needed to keep his lie a secret. The hedgehog turned his head back to see Angel Island and then saying what he couldn't do at any time to the echidna.

"I'm sorry Knuckles."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The red echidna was still walking back to guard the Master Emerald again and still remembering his unexpected visit from Eggman just earlier. What was he doing here? Why was he here? So many questions were flooding his mind and he couldn't quite answer them correctly at this very moment. It was very unusual to get a visit from Eggman and him saying that he was taking a stroll in his flying car.

Knuckles then stopped walking because the ground suddenly started shaking.

"What's going on? The only time Angel Island shakes is when…

He then started running towards the shrine, not stopping or slowing down for a single second. Something was going on and he had a feeling on what it was. When he finally got to the shrine, he was shocked.

"The Master Emerald is gone!"

Now he knew what was going on. Because of the Master Emerald's power, it holds Angel Island in the air, but when it's either shattered or stolen, the whole island falls into the sea.

"Now I understand. Eggman was here to distract me so one of his stupid robots could steal the Master Emerald while I was gone. I'll make him pay for this!"

The echidna then started heading off the island to search for Eggman. Since he knew Eggman took his airship because of how heavy the Master Emerald is and that'll take out his Eggmobile with ease, all he has to do is locate it. Hopefully it wouldn't be still in the air or otherwise he'll need to find something high to climb up to and glide all the way there. Knuckles hoped this wasn't going to be that hard. When Angel Island hit the sea, the red echidna started his search.

Since Angel Island was near the Mystic Ruins, he knew he could search outside Station Square when he runs through the city so he started running towards it. After running for two minutes, he made it to the Mystic Ruins Train Station where he could take the train to Station Square. Clever idea to put a train station there.

Knuckles arrived in Station Square after a five minute train ride and started running past everybody in the city to keep searching for the airship. He didn't stop at all as he needed to get the Master Emerald back. In Eggman's hands, it'll make him unstoppable.

Now Knuckles was running through the forest and was scanning for the airship and the way through. Getting lost in the forest can sometimes lead you to getting confused quite easily. He made it through and actually found Eggman's airship landed in front of him. Plus there were no robots guarding the entrance. What a lucky break.

Knuckles headed inside casually to avoid anything coming out by surprise to attack him like the robots for instance. Now he just needed to find Eggman and his best bet would be in the Control Room.

Knuckles stopped as he felt movements from inside the airship, then he realized that it was moving and ascending into the air.

"What the? Please don't tell me this is a trap."

"Oh it's not a trap knucklehead." A voice answered for him.

Knuckles recognised the voice perfectly as he would be the only person to speak in here. Eggman came to the echidna in his Eggmobile, again.

"Where's the Master Emerald? And why are you in that flying car when you're inside an airship? Knuckles asked.

"Because I feel like it and don't worry, your precious emerald is in safe hands." He answered.

"Well how about you tell me where it is and I'll be on my way."

"I don't think so. You see, I need the Master Emerald for my new plan to conquer the world." Eggman explained with his same old dialogue sentence.

"I don't care Eggman! The Master Emerald stays at the shrine on Angel Island and nowhere else, especially in this airship."

"Oh I'm sorry, you didn't tell me that part." The scientist joked.

'_Great, he's now starting to act like a certain hedgehog I know.'_ Knuckles told himself.

"By the way, is this some sort of trap? The airship is moving." Knuckles asked the question to the one behind this.

"No it's not a trap."

"Well since it isn't a trap and you won't tell me where the Master Emerald is, I'll find it myself."

Knuckles then started to find his way through the airship but Eggman forced him to stop with his hand raised out in front of him.

"Hold on a moment Knuckles. I have a surprise for you." Eggman told the echidna.

Knuckles hated surprises, especially from the evil scientist himself.

"What is it then?"

"Would you leave this airship with the Master Emerald, or your best friend?"

Eggman pulled out in front of the echidna a tied up and gagged blue hedgehog while laughing like he always does. Knuckles was absolutely shocked just seeing him in a situation like this.

"Sonic! How did you catch him so easily?" Knuckles asked while still in shock.

"Well long story short, we had a fight and I won." He quickly explained.

"I don't believe that for a second."

"Well it's true!" Eggman argued.

Right now wasn't the time to argue with Eggman. Right now Knuckles needed to rescue Sonic from the scientist before something bad happens to him. Maybe when the hedgehog and echidna is away from Eggman, Knuckles could find out the true story on what happened.

"Let him go Eggman!" Knuckles demanded.

"Oh but you have a choice to make first. You can leave this airship with the Master Emerald, or with Sonic." Eggman explained.

Now this just annoyed the red echidna. Making a choice between the two is downright stupid. He was here for the Master Emerald until Eggman decided to reveal the captured hedgehog in front of him. At least with the choice he makes here will actually help him out later on.

"I'll be back for the Master Emerald. Release Sonic now!" Knuckles ordered.

"As you wish, knucklehead." Eggman agreed.

Sonic didn't know this but Eggman actually threw him over towards Knuckles, who quickly realised what he was doing. He dashed over and caught the hedgehog in his arms just in time.

"Why in the world did you think throwing Sonic was a good idea?!" Knuckles raised his voice at him.

"Well you said to release him and I didn't want to get out of my Eggmobile."

'_No wonder I always call him Eggman, he's lazy most of the time and always in that stupid flying car.'_ Sonic thought to himself as he wasn't in the proper position to talk at this moment.

Now that Knuckles had Sonic safely in his arms, they needed to get out of the airship and back on solid ground. Hopefully Eggman would open the door so they could get out without breaking anything and upsetting the evil scientist. He can untie Sonic once they reach the ground.

"I'll see you soon Eggman and you better have the Master Emerald in the position it's in now." He warned Eggman and started running back to the entrance of the airship. Luckily, Eggman had opened the door for them and then Knuckles jumped out of the airship, gliding back to the surface.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Gliding slowly in the sky was calming and relaxing for the red echidna. He enjoyed doing this when he needed to get to higher places or to land somewhere nearby. Knuckles couldn't believe that Eggman had kidnapped Sonic so easily. That story Eggman explained couldn't be true, could it? Well he can find out very soon from the blue hedgehog himself and the real story as well.

Finally after gliding from not a very long time, they both landed at the exact spot Knuckles found the airship. He sat the hedgehog down on the grass so he could untie him easily. Firstly, he needed to know if Sonic was alright so he flipped down the cloth that was tied around his mouth that kept him unable to communicate.

"You alright Sonic?" Knuckles asked calmly.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the rescue."

"No problem. I'm always there to help. Here let me untie you."

Now there was a trick that Knuckles could do and was going to do at this moment. He started using the spikes on his gloves and uses them as a knife to cut them open. Firstly he got rid of the knot from the cloth. He then started cutting carefully on the rope and to avoid any contact to Sonic's arms. One false move and it could cut the hedgehog.

Using his spikes as a knife was genius and plus using his hands to untie Sonic would take him minutes, maybe hours to finish. Sonic was still and not moving an inch so it made it a lot easier for Knuckles to concentrate. Finally the rope snapped and Sonic was free.

"Nice trick with your spikes there Knuckles."

"I thought it would be much easier than using my hands because, well, you know." Knuckles explained and kinda ran out of words to describe what he was saying.

"Don't worry I know what you're talking about." Sonic replied.

That was a lot easier for Knuckles there. Now all he needed to know is what happened between Sonic and Eggman.

"Come on let's go get the Master Emerald back." Sonic then said and started walking until he felt the echidna's hand grabbing his arm.

"Hold on Sonic. Can you tell me how you got kidnapped by Eggman so I know what happened?" Knuckles then asked him.

Sonic needed to explain everything and to try avoiding the situation of what he was forced to do.

"Well it's kind of a long story."

"Don't worry we've got the time. I know I need to get the Master Emerald back but I want to find out exactly what happened and how you ended up in Eggman's clutches." Knuckles replied.

"Well I was on my normal daily runs when I was approached by Eggman in his Eggmobile. We talked, I made fun of him as usual, but when we got to the fighting part, it wasn't our normal fight with his robots or any new inventions."

"What happened?" Knuckles asked while anxious to know where Sonic was going with this flashback event of his.

"He declared a fight without using any machines, robots or anything in particular."

That made the echidna quite stunned. Eggman fighting his nemesis without any new inventions? That was certainly not normal.

"He told me what I was planning on not using so I actually went on an average kind of fight because I wanted to make things fair, but that was a huge mistake." Sonic continued.

Knuckles then froze. He knew exactly what happened next and just couldn't believe it.

"You mean… you actually lost to Eggman?"

Sonic slowly nodded instead of saying anything else to conclude his answer.

Knuckles couldn't believe it. Eggman was actually telling the truth and the echidna didn't wanted it to be true. Sonic, of all people, losing to Eggman in an old fashioned fight. What Knuckles didn't really understand is how Eggman can actually pull off something like that when he was fighting Sonic. He didn't want to ask the blue hedgehog himself because there would be no straight answer to it.

"What happened after that? Did you see Eggman or his idiot robots grab you?" Knuckles then asked.

"I was knocked unconscious so I couldn't tell. When I woke up in the cell in his airship, we had our talk about what he was planning and stuff, until he wanted me to…"

Sonic completely stopped because he just remembered what he didn't want to let out, the Master Emerald. If he blurted that out, he wouldn't forgive himself and then start dealing with Knuckles shouting at him about how sacred that big shiny rock means to him and then probably ending their friendship right on the spot. Sonic didn't want that to happen.

Knuckles looked at him and noticed Sonic didn't finish he explanation. Something was wrong.

"To what?"

"Uh…"

'_Oh man I've gotta come up with a lie and fast!'_ Sonic told himself under-pressure.

Knuckles was waiting for an answer and Sonic needed to come up with one, without bringing up what happened with Eggman.

"To bring him… the uh… Chaos Emeralds! Yeah that's it!"

The red echidna noticed that Sonic was quite nervous when he was speaking, kinda like he was hiding something. He could easily tell by the tone of the hedgehog's voice and how he was struggling to complete his sentence.

"Why did Eggman want you to bring him the Chaos Emeralds? He now has the Master Emerald." He then suddenly asked.

"He created some new machine."

"So what you're saying is that he needed you to bring him the Chaos Emeralds to power up his new machine which you don't really know about? If he wanted a lot of energy, why does he have the Master Emerald?"

He had to mention the Master Emerald. This was starting to become stressful for Sonic as he just wanted to get to Eggman's Base and collect the stupid green rock that means so much to the echidna and try to avoid spilling the beans on what he did. He still needed to lie to Knuckles plus keep what he was forced to do a secret. This wasn't easy.

"W-well he might want to use it for something else. I-I don't really know." He explained, still under-pressure and hoped that Knuckles would drop this.

"Sonic are you okay? You sound intense." Knuckles asked him while acting worried at the same time.

"I-I'm fine, no need to worry about me. Can we just go?" Sonic quickly answered.

Knuckles thought he wasn't himself after being captive with Eggman or he thought he was keeping something in the dark, but he didn't know and he wasn't going to get it out of the blue hedgehog easily. Right now he needed to get the Master Emerald back before Eggman does something bad.

"Well… alright then. If something's bothering you just talk to me okay?"

Sonic nodded in agreement and headed off leaving Knuckles slowly behind. There was something off about Sonic just by what was coming out from his mouth when talking about Eggman, Chaos Emerald and the Master Emerald. He needed to know what's going on in Sonic's head and what he's not telling him. He was going to get to the bottom of this and stop Eggman's latest plan but it's going to be a long trip.


End file.
